Wafer holder and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Abstract

A wafer holder is provided in which local heat radiation in supporting and heating wafers is kept under control and temperature uniformity of the wafer retaining surface is enhanced, and by making use of the wafer holder a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus suitable for processing larger-diameter wafers is made available. In a wafer holder ( 1 ) including within a ceramic substrate ( 2 ) a resistive heating element ( 3 ) or the like and being furnished with a lead ( 4 ) penetrating a reaction chamber ( 6 ), the lead ( 4 ) is housed in a tubular guide member ( 5 ), and an interval between the guide member ( 5 ) and the reaction chamber ( 6 ) as well as the interior of the guide member ( 5 ) are hermetically sealed. The guide member ( 5 ) and the ceramic substrate ( 2 ) are not joined together, and in the interior of the guide member ( 5 ) in which the inside is hermetically sealed, the atmosphere toward the ceramic substrate ( 2 ) is preferably substantially the same as the atmosphere in the reaction chamber ( 6 ).

1. For use in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a reaction chamber, a wafer holder comprising:
 a ceramic substrate internally including at least one electrical component selected from a resistive heating element, a plasma-generating electrode, an electrostatic chuck electrode, and an electron-beam electrode; 
 a lead for connecting said at least one electrical component to an external electrode; 
 a tubular guide member for housing said lead, wherein said guide member penetrates the reaction chamber at an interval therefrom, and an interior region of the tubular guide member is in fluid communication with an interior region of the reaction chamber; 
 a seal hermetically sealing the interval between said lead and the reaction chamber; and 
 a plug hermetically sealing the tubular guide member interior. 
 
   
   
     2. A wafer holder as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein said guide member and said ceramic substrate are not joined. 
   
   
     3. A wafer holder as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein said plug is either glass or a brazing material joining said lead to said guide member. 
   
   
     4. A wafer holder as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein said guide member covers either a portion of or the entirety of said lead where said lead is disposed within the reaction chamber. 
   
   
     5. A wafer holder as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the principal component of said guide member is one selected from mullite, alumina, silicon nitride, silicon carbide or aluminum nitride. 
   
   
     6. A wafer holder as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the principal component of said ceramic substrate is one selected from alumina, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride or silicon carbide. 
   
   
     7. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a reaction chamber equipped with a wafer holder as set forth in  claim 1 . 
   
   
     8. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as set forth in  claim 7 , wherein the atmosphere within the reaction chamber is not a corrosive gas. 
   
   
     9. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as set forth in  claim 8 , the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus being for low-k film baking.